Tourism

The growth of tourism in recent years has provided both many benefits and drawbacks to those countries that have experienced significant changes in the number of tourists visiting their country each year. And here, I will discuss the impact of tourism on national economies. There are many reasons for such a growth in global tourism, for example; increases in the disposable incomes of millions of people, the expansion of budget airlines, such as easyJet, the greater cultural and social awareness of foreign entities. However, how beneficial is tourism to an economy? Before we look at a case study, I should specify the difference between the tourism economy and the tourism industry. The tourism economy includes all payments and those employed indirectly from tourism. For instance, those who make the carpet for a new hotel that has been built specifically for tourism. Whereas the tourism industry includes only the payments directly attributed to tourism and those directly employed in tourism, for instance, holiday reps.

Taking Spain as an example, over the past 40 years, Spain's tourism economy has grown to be the second largest in the world worth approximately $US237,898 million which was about 15.3% of Spain’s GDP (gross domestic product) in 2010. The tourism industry employed around 1,280,000 people in 2010 compared to the nation’s whole tourism economy which employed around 3,205,000 people. Now, these figures are vast and show just how important tourism is to the Spanish economy, with 14% of the total population employed in the tourism economy. The multiplier effect of this figure should not be underestimated, the growth of tourism certainly helped Spain to develop its economy into one of Europe's biggest.

Despite this, recent trends of tourism have led to Spain to become second choice for many as they search for a greater cultural experience. The ideology of crowded Spanish beaches in Benidorm has become a horror for many, although still attracting many of those wanting a home-from-home experience in the sun, with the likes of Tesco's and McDonald's along the beach front.

So what next for Spain? As we all know, Spain's economy has been suffering recently with a 57% unemployment rate for those under 25, so in order to help kick-start the economy again, it is necessary that Spain attempts to diversify into different market segments of tourism, whilst maintaining its utilisation of the main attraction factor for many - the Sun. Perhaps more emphasis on the budding ski resort of Sierra Nevada near Granada in Southern Spain, or maybe even promoting more of its cultural festivals such as the 'Running of the bulls' in Pamplona. Whatever the Spanish government resorts to, it is important Spain maintains its tourism economy, and sustains (or preferably increases) the current levels of income it brings into the economy.

Spanish Unemployment Rate

References:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/83fc03d8-c919-11e2-bb56-00144feab7de.html#axzz2XX1oQnnr

Borders

Borders define the geographic boundaries of political entities or areas of different legal jurisdiction, for instance, between states in USA. These borders may be natural such as the Niagara River which separates the USA from Canada. Another example of a natural boarder is oceans as there are very few nations that span more than one continent. These borders may also be manmade, such as the border that separates India and Pakistan, which is so large that it can be seen from space.

Originally, borders served to separate nations and act as a defence from offensive threats of neighbouring regimes or to separate countries with political differences, however, more recently, as the world has developed there has been a global shift towards the relaxation of borders. This is because of the developments in technology that make invading other countries a non-existent feature of modern day world. Despite this, physical natural and manmade borders (as well as non-physical borders) still exist as to prevent the free movement of the population to avoid over-crowding in certain countries. They also serve to reduce trade between countries, most notably in illegal goods and services such as drugs and human trafficking. The best example of this is the Mexico-United States border that runs nearly 2,000 miles along the Rio Grande, It is thought that over 520,000 Mexicans try to cross the border in an attempt to lead a better lifestyle in the USA, of the 520,000, 40% will slip through US border control and gain illegal access to America. It is thought by Dr Douglas Massey of Princeton University that the efforts of the US to increase security along the border has led to migration flows in the most desolate and most desert places along the border and thus increasing the mortality rate of those who try to enter the US illegally. As a result of the danger posed by crossing the border, those who gain access to the US are highly likely to attempt to stay in the US and are increasingly likely to pay criminals in an attempt to have the criminals bring their families across the border to the better lifestyle the US offers. Such danger posed by the border has created a large informal economy for criminals in drug, weapon and human trafficking which has further required security resources to be deployed to this problem and therefore has cost the US more money. In the Europe, however, the borders are mostly more relaxed due to the formation of the EU that allows the free movement of people, goods, services and capital from one EU member country to another, in total, there are 27 EU member countries.

The India-Pakistan border. Image courtesy of BBC

References:

Kelly, Patricia, and Douglas Massey. "Borders for Whom? The Role of NAFTA in Mexico-U.S. Migration". The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political Science 610 (2007): 98–118.

Beaches

Many people don't realise it, but beaches are a in fact a landform of deposition caused by the sea and its sediment. They can form in many different types of coastline and bring immense enjoyment and satisfaction to many of those who use them.

Beach profiles generally fall into two extremes: those that are wide and flat (constructive) and those that are narrow and steep (destructive). The type of beaches depends on the wave energy and more specifically, the type of wave. The types of wave include;

 - Constructive waves. These wash sediment up the beach as the waves have high energy, they then deposit the sediment as the energy of the wave decreases and it flows back down as backwash and out to the sea. They are usually shallow and of a low frequency. It involves a strong swash and weak backwash, as well as a long fetch (the horizontal distance over which wave-generating winds blow).

 - Destructive waves. These pick up sediment as they run down the beach and carry it back out to sea, therefore 'destroying' the beach.  Often involve high waves and they are often of a high frequency. They have a strong backwash and a weak swash, as well as a short fetch.

(NOTE; swash - the rush of seawater up the beach after the breaking of a wave.

            backwash - The motion of receding waves, as water flows down the beach)



The type of beach also depends upon the particle size. There is a relationship between particle size and the beach slope profile; this is partly to do with grain size but also to do with percolation rates.

As a result, different beaches will have different features associated with them. For instance, destructive waves often produce steep beaches whereas the beaches formed by constructive waves are often much more gently sloping. Or, shingle beaches are steeper than sand beaches because shingle beaches have higher percolation rates.

Constructive waves (top) and Destructive waves (bottom. Images from BBC.